Robert Makando and other officials at other IRU World Congress in Muscat.

Text Size:AAA

Mowasalat (Karwa) Qatar, represented by Karwa Driving School (KDS) and Karwa Motors – Oman, participated in the World Congress of the International Road Transport Union (IRU) in Muscat from November 6 to 8.

The IRU World Congress is organised once in two years and this year’s edition was held to address key issues and solutions for the road transport sector.
"As a member of the IRU organisation and the only driving school in Qatar to train and deliver the Agreement on the Transportation of Dangerous Goods by Road under the IRU Academy and certify courses accredited by the IRU, we are proud to present our training programme objectives and goals contributing to Qatar's traffic/road/driving safety on this global platform, interacting and engaging in knowledge-sharing sessions with professionals and experts from all over the world," Mowasalat said in a statement.
Robert Makondo of KDS made a presentation on how Karwa Driving School is able to serve Qatar's transport industry and how it is carrying the responsibility to move people around safely and smartly through professional qualifications and better education for drivers.
“That was possible by bringing state-of-the-art facilities and globally recognised training programmes accredited by renowned institutions. Through our association with IRU in the last eight years, we have upgraded our training programmes with seven
accreditations due to which we are able to deliver training to corporate giants such as Qatar Petroleum, Shell, Total, Kahramaa, Mwani Qatar and such."
In another session, the KDS official spoke on autonomous vehicles and how such innovations would answer issues such as a shortage of professional drivers in future.
Mowasalat Government Relations and Media manager Khalid Kafoud said their company recently organised a programme on road, traffic and driving safety in partnership with such stakeholders like the National Traffic Safety Committee, Traffic Department and Ministry of Transport & Communications.
He said it was held in collaboration with the IRU Academy.
At the event, the necessity of possessing better skills and professional qualifications to alleviate and reduce road traffic accidents was discussed at length, remembered Kafoud.
Besides Qatar, the programme saw the participation of experts from the Gulf region and Europe, the Mowasalat official said.
Karwa Motors of Oman, who was the Silver Sponsor of the Congress, has a vehicle manufacturing and assembling plant in Duqm, Oman. The company showcased its brand and project details. Karwa Motors is a collaboration between Qatar and Oman, represented by Mowasalat and Oman Investment Fund, respectively.
The Oman factory, when completed, will be built in an area of more than 100,000sqm, and it plans to have an annual production capacity of 1,000 buses, including school buses, public transport buses and tourist buses of different sizes and capacities.
Karwa Motors will invest about $70mn in the first phase of the project, which includes an automotive-based manufacturing cluster. The commercial production at the plant is expected to start by the second quarter of 2020, Karwa Motors project manager Eissa Al-Mosalmani said.